Harvey: Aggies begin trip into uncharted territory

Updated 10:23 pm, Friday, August 3, 2012

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin will lead the Aggies into their first season of competing in the Southeastern Conference.

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin will lead the Aggies into their first season of competing in the Southeastern Conference.

Photo: Butch Dill, Associated Press

Harvey: Aggies begin trip into uncharted territory

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COLLEGE STATION - About 20 miles outside College Station, driving north on Texas 6, you see a billboard proclaiming, "This is SEC Country.''

There is not much to see at that point in the journey except for the billboard, making it look a whole lot like Big 12 Country or, for those of who you remember, Southwest Conference country.

There is no border control. No one checks your trunk to see if you have Texas Longhorns paraphernalia. You don't need a passport or visa.

There is a light breeze, but, no matter how hard you listen, you do not hear it whispering through the trees, "Roll, Tide, Roll" or "War Eagle.'' There is no roar of a Bayou Tiger or even the snort of a wild hog.

There are, however, buzzards circling above the pastures.

Kevin Sumlin, who left the University of Houston in December after four seasons as coach for the same job at Texas A&M, saw them from much closer range Friday. They were sitting right in front of him as he met with the media inside the Bright Football Complex on the Aggies' first day of fall football practice, their first rehearsal on the main stage that is the SEC.

If fans of the Big 12, which was jilted by Texas A&M, have any objection to that characterization, all they have to do is look at which conference produced the past six national champions. Two SEC teams played for the title last season. You can't blame the Aggies if they feel like they're in "The Show.''

Sumlin, on this particular afternoon, wasn't in the mood to talk about the new conference.

Asked by one of us buzzards how he will keep his team focused on the Aug. 30 season opener at Shreveport, La., against Louisiana Tech instead of the SEC opener the next weekend at Kyle Field against Florida, he said, good-naturedly: "Keep them away from you. How about that?''

As Friday was the day scheduled for media to meet with several veterans, that was going to be a challenge for Sumlin on his 48th birthday.

He would be pleased to know none of them mentioned Florida. That doesn't mean they aren't thinking about the SEC.

Hard work showing

The players reported to campus before 10 p.m. Thursday and enjoyed their last night of freedom for a while by forcing the incoming freshmen to sing karaoke.

The consensus was that 6-3, 330-pound offensive lineman Kemo Tipoti won with his rendition of a Boyz ll Men song.

That also turned out to be the theme of the first day of practice - boyz to men - at least physically.

The players said they have worked harder than ever in the weight room under strength and conditioning coach Larry Jackson, who came with Sumlin from Houston. It shows.

"A lot of players are walking around with no shirts,'' Sumlin said. "That's a good thing. It's a motivating factor.''

They not only believe they will have to be bigger and stronger in a conference, which, according to the USA Today coaches preseason poll released this week, had five teams among the top 10 and seven among the top 25, none of them named Texas A&M. The Aggies also believe they will have to be in better shape.

Texas A&M fans are less likely to remember the Aggies finished with a winning record (7-6) last season that included a bowl victory over Northwestern than that they blew five second-half leads. In the first half of games last season, they outscored opponents 322-123. In the second half and overtimes, they were outscored 233-186. They weren't good finishers.

Whether that was the fault of coaching or conditioning, A&M has changed both.

Higher-octane offense

The Aggies hope Sumlin's higher-tempo spread offense from Houston, which led the nation in scoring in two of the past four seasons, will enable them to outgun some teams, although they entered practice without an announced starting quarterback to pull the trigger.

But SEC teams don't often give up the 49 points per game that Sumlin's Cougars averaged in a 13-1 season in 2011.

On the contrary, it was an SEC team - Mississippi State - that rolled up the points in a 47-24 victory over Sumlin's Cougars in 2010. They also faced the Bulldogs in 2008, winning 31-24, still nine points less than UH's scoring average that season. And Mississippi State isn't Alabama or LSU.

A&M players, following Sumlin's lead, said Friday that the field is still 100 yards long whether they are playing in the Big 12 or the SEC. It just seems like longer for offenses in SEC Country.